Former Miss Farmington competes for Aquatennial crown

• Photo: Emilee Shearer

Emilee Shearer, left, Miss Farmington for 2011-12, got a chance to meet outgoing Queen of the Lakes Amanda Bertrand of Montevideo at this year’s Miss Farmington pageant. She is the first contestant the Farmington Royalty Committee has sent to the Aquatennial pageant.

Talk about it

By the time this week is over, Emilee Shearer may have a very sore arm. Sore, that is, from all of the waving the 2011 Miss Farmington is doing at the Aquatennial this week.

Shearer will certainly have lots of new, exciting memories, and probably a few new friends, as well. She is one of 47 community ambassadors from around the state who is competing in the 2012 Aquatennial Queen of the Lakes pageant.

She’s working her way through a week of activity planned for all of the contestants. Shearer arrived in Minneapolis Sunday, and will stay there at least until Saturday. If she’s crowned in the Queen of the Lakes court, she’ll stay a little bit longer.

Queen of the Lakes contestants have a busy week. They take part in most of the events scheduled for the Aquatennial. They have do four separate interviews as part of the judging process. They’ll be in the Torchlight Parade, and they’ll go on a boat ride and compete in a spaghetti-eating contest. In some of the events, the candidates will be asked to wear the crowns and sashes from their respective communities, and in others, they will just be there as ambassadors for the Aquatennial.

“We’re basically participating in all of the Aquatennial. From what I’ve heard, it’s very tiring,” Shearer said.

This is the first year the Farmington Royalty program has been able sponsor a candidate for the Aquatennial, co-chair Dori Seegar said. One previous Miss Farmington participated in the contest a few years ago, but her family paid for her participation.

“We’ve been actively working to expand the (Farmington Royalty) program. With the new committee, one of our goals was to add the Junior Miss program. We did that. The other goal was to be able to send an Aquatennial candidate. We were able to work that out with the Dew Days committee,” Seegar said. “We really wanted to be able to do this. Emilee just happens to be the first one.”

Shearer knows her “first one” status is important to the evolution of the Farmington Royalty program. She’s honored to be representing Farmington, but in a way, that’s a little daunting, too. Since Farmington is new to the Aquatennial, Shearer doesn’t have any previous Miss Farmington queens to ask questions of or to get tips from.

While she’s a competitive person when it comes to participating in sports, Shearer says she’s generally a laid back. As such, Shearer’s family and friends seem to be more nervous about Friday’s pageant than she is.

“I’m definitely excited,” she said, “but I always think everything happens for a reason, so I’m not getting worked up about it. I’ll just go and try my best, and whatever happens, happens.”

At 19, Shearer is going into her second year of school at Minnesota State University, Mankato this fall. She’s pursuing a degree in sports management with a minor in statistics.

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